Maternal arsenic exposure associated with low birth weight in Bangladesh.

Objective: To characterize the effects of maternal arsenic exposure on birth weight.

Methods: Hair, toenail, and drinking water samples were collected from pregnant women (n = 52) at multiple time points during pregnancy and from their newborns after birth. Total arsenic was measured using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry.

One solution to the arsenic problem: a return to surface (improved dug) wells.

Arsenic contamination in drinking-water in Bangladesh is a major catastrophe, the consequences of which exceed most other man-made disasters. The national policy encourages the use of surface water as much as possible without encountering the problems of sanitation that led to the use of groundwater in the first place. This paper describes the success of the Dhaka Community Hospital (DCH) team and the procedure in implementing sanitary, arsenic-free, dugwells.